h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

You've only known me a few months!

Yeah.. amazing how quickly you have grown..

Well, mentally maybe!

Yes dear..

Anyway.. time for my bed .. and hopefully some sleep.
Nite Louis..

Goodnight Lil! Sleep tight (and soundly)!

Hello Lil! How are you today? Have you been sleeping any better?

*giggles*.. sleeping better, just at very odd times of the day again..

Well that's good. It's obviously getting better!

That depends on what time of the day I am awake..

Well yes, quite.

Bedtime again...

OK. Goodnight!

Hello Lil! How are you? I've just had the most amazing holiday in Rome!

Hello darling..

Good to have you back..I am very well, thank you..

.... So are you going to do a Journal about this fabulous holiday??

It would be too long for a journal entry, but I did write about the holiday in great detail to somebody else here on h2g2, which I can copy and paste into this post:

"My mum and I were due to depart from Dover, on the right south coast of bad-weather-cursed England at 3.15 in the afternoon of Sunday 3rd April, which meant that our coach would be leaving Bournemouth at about 7.00 on Sunday morning to begin the seven hour journey to Dover. We both decided it would not be worth going to bed on Saturday night as we would be too excited to sleep and would have to get up at about 5.00 in the morning anyway. So we stayed up all night and then my dad gave my mum and I a lift to the coach station along with our suitcases and hand luggage, and we departed for Dover at more or less exactly 7.00. I read an entire "Doctor Who" novel on the way to Dover, which I was quite pleased about! We arrived at Dover at about 2.15 in the afternoon of Sunday, and then we had an hour to stand around at the ferry terminal waiting for the ferry that would take us across the Channel to Calais in France (they had no seats at the terminal so we got sore feet from standing). Anyway, the ferry departed on time and we then had an hour and a half to enjoy the luxuries on board the ferry before we arrived in Calais at about 4.45 on Sunday afternoon.

We then went into our coach that would be our main means of transport for the remainder of the holiday, as the coach that took us to Dover remained there and our "holiday coach" was there to meet us in Calais. We were introduced to our coach drivers, Ray and Robbie, and then we travelled continuously throughout Sunday evening, the whole of Monday and into Tuesday afternoon, getting very little sleep on the coach as the seats are so upright. We travelled through France, Belgium, Luxembourg and Switzerland on our way to Italy, and arrived in the north of Italy by about 6.00 on Tuesday morning. My mum and I actually weren't too bad with having three days of almost no sleep, and pure adrenaline kept us awake and alert on the journey (all 36 hours of it!) to Italy. We then spent from about 6.00 on Tuesday morning to about 4.00 on that afternoon getting from the north of Italy to Rome, which is quite low down in Italy, as you'll notice on any map. On the way, we passed the cities of Milan and Florence, two other Italian cities I'd be really interested in visiting.

We arrived in Rome at 4.00 exactly as scheduled. We arrived at our hotel, called "Aris Garden," a short while later, on the outskirts of Rome, about twelve kilometers from the centre of the city. The hotel was not too bad, and my mum and I went straight to our room (they automatically assumed we were a couple when we booked it, hence the one room for both of us) and fell asleep for two hours! Anyway, we had a delightful meal in the hotel restaurant, called the "Taverna degli Artisti," which I think translates to "Tavern delegated to Artists" as there was a stage at one end with microphone and keyboard set up for Italian bands to perform there in the evenings. We had leek soup, pasta and ham and chips for our meal. On Wednesday, my mum and I went into the centre of Rome and had a general look around, travelling there on the underground train and bus respectively. When I saw the Colosseum for the first time, I nearly fainted, it was that breath-takingly marvellous! When you think it was made by ancient Roman hands with primitive tools over 2,000 years ago, and is still standing today, it simply has to be seen to be believed. It's certainly left me with an image I shall never forget. We also saw the balcony where Mussolini made his speeches, and the Santa Maria church, where the Spanish Inquisition was held in the 15th and 16th centuries, as well as the Pantheon, a marvellous building similar to the Greek Parthenon which contains the tomb of the artist Raphael and has a wonderful domed ceiling. We have many photos of each of these places.

On Thursday, my mum and I went into the centre of Rome again and we spent three and a half hours in the Colosseum, and the inside is even more breath-taking than the outside! It quite literally blew me away and it didn't sink in until later that I'd actually been inside the Colosseum! We took loads of photos inside the Colosseum. Once we'd left, we travelled slightly away from the Colosseum and went to the Roman Forum and the Imperial Fora, the former government buildings of Rome and the Roman Empire. There are dozens of ruins there and we took quite a few photos there too. On Friday, we went with our coach group to the Vatican, as there was a tour of the Vatican with a tour guide included as part of the holiday, and we spent three hours wandering around St. Peter's Square and the Vatican. We went inside the Sistine Chapel and photographed the famous ceiling painted by Michelangelo between 1508 and 1512. After we visited the Vatican, my mum and I went by ourselves to the Theatre of Marcellus (Teatro de Marcello in Italian), which looks like a smaller version of the Colosseum, except that you can't go inside unfortunately as it's all railed off. We also saw near to the Theatre of Marcellus the ruins of the Temple of Apollo and the Mausoleum of Ottavia, who was the daughter of Emperor Augustus and died young, so he built the mausoleum in memory of her.

Saturday was our final full day in Rome, so the coach group arranged a trip to a pizza restaurant just down the road from the hotel, which made extremely good pizzas, and we went there in the evening and had a massive pizza and a slice of cake for pudding, which was lovely! I had three slices of cake afterwards! The coach group had 42 people in it (the answer to life, the universe and everything!) and about half of them were under the age of 25, which surprised my mum and I as when we did a coach holiday to Poland in 2002 the majority of the people were all aged over 80. We spent most of our evenings in the hotel bar drinking beer with the younger members of the coach group, and it was a very friendly and matey lot this time, whereas in Poland we didn't really hang out with the old people and there wasn't so much of a friendly and matey atmosphere amongst the coach group. We took lots of photos of the coach group, some with us included, and it really was a brilliant group this year. Call me a typical male or whatever, but there was one girl in that group called Lyn, who was 21, and I fancied the pants off her! Let's just say I had a few pleasant dreams on that holiday!

OK... maybe I shouldn't have said that... moving swiftly on... ahem...

We left our hotel on the morning of Sunday 10th April at 11.00 and then we sat around in the sunshine for two hours, before departing on our coach at about 1.30 on Sunday afternoon. We arrived back at Calais at about 12.30 on Monday afternoon, so we travelled back through Europe quicker than when we travelled through it towards Italy. We then travelled on the ferry back to Dover from about 2.30 to 4.00 on Monday afternoon, and then took a coach back home to Bournemouth from about 4.30 on Monday afternoon to about 8.15 on that evening, and fortunately the lack of traffic meant we arrived home earlier than expected! It was a simply superb holiday and I loved every minute of it. My mum and I took about fifty photos each, and that's no exaggeration, which we are going to get printed out later this week (we have digital cameras, being the funky technologically advanced people we are). I had a sinking feeling in my stomach on the way home as I really didn't want to say goodbye to all the lovely people I met on holiday (especially Lyn, sorry, couldn't resist!) and I don't like it when good things come to an end. I really did feel quite down on the final day, especially once everyone had gotten off the ferry at Dover, as my mum and I will probably never see them again. Lyn lives in Essex, not far from London (okay, okay, won't go into that again!).

Overall, that was the best holiday I have ever had in my life. Rome is a stunning city and an absolute must see for everyone! My mum and I are planning to go back there on the same holiday next year, woohoo!!! "

There you go. That's my holiday in a nutshell!

I have put this in bookmark and will read it in the morning..

Good to have you home

See you later love.. I must sleep now..

Goodnight Lil! Pleasant dreams!

Hello again Lil!

'Ello, 'ello, 'ello.

Anyone home?

Hello sweetheart,

We've been missing each other for a while..